BALTIMORE — Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were again at the scene of an accident fatal house explosion in Bel Air South Tuesday as they work to complete an independent investigation into the cause.

Sunday’s explosion leveled a house, killing a BGE contractor and the homeowner, and structural damage to several surrounding homes.

WJZ investigator Mike Hellgren spoke to Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly on site on Tuesday. He said they are providing shelter to seven families and are working with the Red Cross.

“You look at some of the houses and think they’re safe to go back inside,” Cassilly said. “Unfortunately, the force of the explosion has only caused cracks and deformations in structural components, and houses that appear to be fine are uninhabitable. Many people’s lives have been completely turned upside down.”

Security denied the media access to the site, where cleanup operations were still underway.

Video of the explosion

You can hear the explosion in the video WJZ received. It shook the Ring camera, which recorded it in a row house near the crime scene.

The video showed debris sweeping across the roofs.

Another video showed rickety fences in a backyard.

The aftermath was captured on drone video. By Tuesday morning, most of the insulation and parts of the exploded house had been cleared away.

Fire investigators believe the explosion was accidental and that there was a gas leak in the house at the epicenter of the explosion.

Remembering the victims

The tragedy killed The 73-year-old homeowner Ray Corkran Jr., who had just offered the house for sale.

“By all accounts, the homeowner was a great guy,” Cassilly said. “The neighbors knew him – a really nice man. It’s not just the building that’s gone. It’s lives. It’s people. It’s families.”

35-year-old BGE employee Jose Rodriguez-Alvarado also lost his life. Several people wrote about their grief on Facebook.

The victim’s brother is collecting money in an online fundraiser to transport Rodriguez-Alvarado’s body to his home country of El Salvador.

“His mother and sister came by that morning, and when I saw the family, it was really a slap in the face. It wasn’t just a utility worker. It was a family man,” Cassilly said.

Impact on the community

Many people in the community are staying in hotels and have questions about the cause of the explosion.

“I contacted the president of the homeowners association to let him know what kind of support we offer,” Cassilly said.

Cassilly noted that the county has provided cleanup crews and expertise for structuring.

The NTSB told WJZ on Tuesday that “ephemeral evidence” was still being collected at the scene.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office has completed the on-site portion of its investigation.

“Our investigators will now look at any information regarding the plumbing, electrical wiring and any type of video surveillance footage they may have found,” said Oliver Alkire of the Maryland Fire Marshal’s Office.

Previous gas explosions in Maryland

Unfortunately, this is one of nearly a dozen gas explosions in Maryland over the past decade.

These include a deadly explosion in East Baltimore in 2014, an apartment explosion that injured firefighters in Northeast Baltimore in 2018, an explosion that destroyed a retail and office complex in Columbia, Howard County in 2019, and a deadly gas explosion that destroyed three row houses in Northwest Baltimore in 2020.

As part of a previous WJZ study BGE informed us that they are responding to 30,000 gas smell reports per year and usually within one hour

Bel Air Investigation

As part of the current investigation in Bel Air, all service calls are being reviewed.

Several neighbors reported smelling gas hours before the explosion. Fire inspectors say BGE contractors were at the flattened house to investigate an electrical problem.

“Is there an isolated case where we can figure it out, or do we need to look at other areas? As bad as it is, we want to know what they uncover,” Cassilly told Hellgren. “You can tell by the number of people here that they’re serious. We’ve had people from the NTSB and the state fire marshal and others here from day one who have been on the project. They’ve documented everything. They’re taking a serious look at this.”

There is no set timeline for when this investigation will be completed. The NTSB is involved because it has jurisdiction over the gas pipelines.